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Monday, September 15, 2025

Music Week

Expanded blog post, September archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 39 albums, 8 A-list

Music: Current count 44857 [44818] rated (+39), 21 [21] unrated (-0).


New records reviewed this week:

  • Africa Express: Africa Express Presents . . . Bahidorá (2025, World Circuit): [sp]: B+(*)
  • Amaarae: Black Star (2025, Interscope): [sp]: A-
  • Fly Anakin: (The) Forever Dream (2025, Lex): [sp]: B+(*)
  • Blood Orange: Essex Honey (2025, RCA/Domino): [sp]: B+(*)
  • Blueprint: Vessel (2025, Weightless): [sp]: A-
  • Chance the Rapper: Star Line (2025, self-released): [sp]: A-
  • Charley Crockett: Dollar a Day (2025, Lone Star Rider/Island): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Orhan Demir/Neil Swainson: Wicked Demon (2024-25 [2025], Hittite): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Mark Ernestus' Ndagga Rhythm Force: Khadim (2025, Ndagga): [bc]: B+(**)
  • Evidence: Unlearning Vol. 2 (2025, Rhymesayers Entertainment): [sp]: B+(*)
  • Fatboi Sharif & Driveby: Let Me Out (2025, Deathbomb Arc): [sp]: B+(*)
  • Ingebrigt Häker Flaten/(Exit) Knarr: Live at Artfacts '22 (2022 [2024], Sonic Transmissions): [sp]: B+(*)
  • Ingebrigt Håker Flaten/(Exit) Knarr: Drops (2024 [2025], Sonic Transmissions): [sp]: B+(**)
  • From the Dirt: Colored Edge of Memory (2025, self-released): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Freddie Gibbs & the Alchemist: Alfredo 2 (2025, ESGN/ALC): [sp]: B+(*)
  • The High & Mighty: Sound of Market (2025, Eastern Conference): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Kaytranada: Ain't No Damn Way! (2025, RCA): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Knowledge the Pirate: The Round Table (2025, Pimpire/Trouble Chest Entertainment): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Lex Korten: Canopy (2024 [2025], Sounderscore): [cd]: B [09-19]
  • Rocío Giménez López/Franco Di Renzo/Luciano Ruggieri: La Palabra Repetida (2025, Blue Art): [bc]: B+(**)
  • Mahotella Queens: Buya Buya: Come Back (2025, Umsakazo): [sp]: A-
  • Lili Maljic: The Nearness of You: In Loving Memory of Jim Rotondi (2024 [2025], Pacific Coast Jazz): [cd]: B+(**)
  • MindsOne: Stages (2025, Fort Lowell): [sp]: A-
  • Nils Petter Molvaer: Khmer Live in Bergen (2023 [2025], Edition): [sp]: A-
  • Nourished by Time: The Passionate Ones (2025, XL): [sp]: B
  • Nova Twins: Parasites & Butterflies (2025, Marshall): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Panic Shack: Panic Shack (2025, Brace Yourself): [sp]: A-
  • Preservation & Gabe 'Nandez: Sortilège (2025, Backwoodz Studioz): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Margo Price: Hard Headed Woman (2025, Loma Vista): [sp]: B+(***)
  • ShrapKnel & Mike Ladd: Saisir Le Feu (2025, Fused Arrow): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Earl Sweatshirt: Live Laugh Love (2025, Tan Cressida/Warner): [sp]: B+(*)
  • Zach Top: Ain't in It for My Health (2025, Leo33): [sp]: B+(**)
  • UFO Fev & Body Bag Ben: Thousand Yard Stare (2025, 1332): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Jubal Lee Young: Squirrels (2025, Reconstruction): [sp]: A-

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

  • Bar-B-Q Killers: Part 1: The Last Shit (1986, Chunklet Industries, EP): [bc]: B
  • Marshall Crenshaw: From the Hellhole (2012-16 [2025], Yep Roc): [sp]: B-
  • Woody Guthrie: Woody at Home: Vol 1 + 2 (1951-52 [2025], Shamus): [sp]: B+(*)

Old music:

  • Body Type: Expired Candy (2023, Poison City): [sp]: [B+(***)
  • The High & Mighty: Home Field Advantage (1999, Rawkus): [sp]: B+(***)


Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Tom Cohen: Embraceable Brazil (Versa) [10-10]
  • Juan Pastor's Chinchano: Memorias (Calligram) [10-03]
  • Natsuki Tamura/Satoko Fujii: Ki (Libra) [09-19]

Daily Log

Posted Loose Tabs after 3AM last night. Came to 287 links, 18682 words. I figured if I didn't, I'd be stuck wading through shit all day today, tomorrow, who knows how long? I woke up this morning hating my life, hating the world I live in, and wanting nothing more than to separate and isolate myself from all of it. So one resolution is to just stop when it gets out of hand. Do something else. Settle down.

Woke up around 8:30, at 85% on the meter. Took the book to the bathroom, and read about Samir Amin and Dani Rodrik. Tried going back to bed after an hour or so. Switched back to the large mask, and noticed that the big difference wasn't the fit but the extra volume of air it enclosed. Eventually did drift off, and didn't get up until after noon. Read some about Joseph Stiglitz. Plan for today is to work on Music Week. Need to go to grocery store. Do some house cleaning. Maybe sketch out a design for the kiosk. The latter is the big project for the week. I'm also thinking about Jazz Critics Poll: obvious first step is to set up the 2025 directory, so I can start working on the background doc, and take another stab at the invitation list; second option is to create a subdomain, and install WordPress on it (prep for a new website). Terry Gross promised to get back to me in August re Francis Davis website, but hasn't. I haven't bugged her yet, feeling pretty unsettled myself, but I will do that when I have something to show and tell.

Email (18 messages): I jotted a bunch of new records down, but nothing else of interest. Almost 3PM, and still haven't gotten to breakfast. (Spent the last hour kvetching with the CPAP supplier.)

Sunday, September 14, 2025

Loose Tabs

See blog file.

Daily Log

Didn't sleep well. AHI up to 6.5 when I woke up at 8, although I'm more suspicious of the leak. I switched back to medium mask, slept uneasily to 11. AHI was down to 4.5. Read the rest of the Federici chapter, then a bit about Thatcher and Hayek. Federici has a point -- that domestic work is real, substantial, and underappreciated -- but no solution: there is something to be said for the exception of some forms of work from the price system. I would like to see more unpaid work, not least because profit isn't a good measure of what's worth doing.

Cassidy emphasizes the overreach of labor unions as a cause/excuse for Thatcher/Reagan. There's a cautionary lesson there, but it should not be the one the right-wingers exploited.

No significant mail (5 messages), but I heard from Rachel last night, and she signed up for NOEL. Did the caulking around the carport pad yesterday. Kind of sloppy, but should work. Cooler today, although it will probably still top 90F. Main thing today is to try to wrap up Loose Tabs. Incredible amount of shit to document these days.

Saturday, September 13, 2025

Daily Log

Woke up 7:30, went back to bed without reading, slept past 11. Re-read the page on Minsky before going into Nicolas Georgescu-Roegen (1906-94) on the limits of growth, his major work The Entropy Law and the Economic Process. I've been thinking that my "models & methods" chapter would include a bit on the application of natural science models to my political analysis: entropy is an obvious case in point.

Saturday, so trivial email. I posted my long Sanders piece last night. So far got 2 likes (one from Laura). Although I spent most of Friday doing the post, I did manage to get the foam bumpers glued up in the carport. It's been hot the last couple days, so I put work off until the evening, then found I didn't have enough light to finish caulking around it. So I should do that today. Otherwise, the main goal will be to wrap up Loose Tabs by tomorrow. First step is to move the draft to a blog post file. Then look through it and my sources and see what else it makes sense to add. Mail from Intercept and Nation suggests that there will be a lot of Charlie Kirk. As a leftist, I'm opposed to bad things happening, even to bad people. But in practical politics, it's vital to identify enemies, and do what can be done to separate them from power. That shouldn't extend to killing them, and very few of us would go that far, but as Todd Snider put it, "in America we like our bad guys dead." It's hard to be an American (and it's hard to appeal to other Americans) without picking up some of that. No doubt that Kirk was a bad guy. I wouldn't say he had this coming, but he had something coming. How to say this? Malcolm X tried "the chickens come home to roost." That didn't go over well at the time, but I'm recalling it 60 years later.

Before switching over to work on Loose Tabs, I thought I should update the website, adding a PS to last week's Music Week. I followed that up with social media notices.

Friday, September 12, 2025

Daily Log

Woke up twice, staying up after 9AM. Read the end of the Latin American dependency theory chapter, which covered Allende in Chile, and the beginning of the chapter on Milton Friedman, who had such influence in Pinochet's Chile. Friedman's presence in a book on Capitalism and Its Critics seems anomalous, but there is little doubt he was disgruntled with the capitalism of his times. That he was important in clarifying its ideology is clear, and he offers a way to advance the narrative. His critics will return in later chapters.

Email (39 messages). Looks like a lot of the usual crap. I was interrupted when the software updater failed and wanted to do "a partial update." I let it, and rebooted (in part because it was slowing down considerably, so restarting the browser was in order. Played Nova Twins while that was going on. Working my way through Chrisgau's Consumer Guide. I was surprised to find three lower-graded albums landing A- grades (Amaarae I already had; add Chance the Rapper and Panic Attack to that). Meanwhile, aside from Haim (which I already had) and the obvious Mahotella Queens, his A- picks are falling a bit short (Body Type, From the Dirt, S.G. Goodman [previous **], Jubal Lee Young [could do with another play). The William Elliott Whitmore turned out to be a previously graded (**) 2018 album, and the Marshall Crenshaw is a dud. Still unavailable: The Oxys, Peter Stampfel.

  • I downloaded Rodrigo Amado's new Bridge album.

I got less than half way through the edit of the 2nd Sanders NOEL piece. That needs to be my priority today. I should send it out through Substack by end of day. Beyond that, probably Loose Tabs. I started to put the carport bumper up yesterday. I had some trouble matching drill bits, screws, and screwdriver bits, but eventually got the base board attached before it got too dark. After rechecking, I need to attach the foam using the built-in adhesive, then caulk around the whole unit. Shouldn't be hard. Next project is probably working on kiosk. I can hold off on doing the upstairs sink until next week.


I've been meaning to reply to a letter by Kurt Aschermann about the Christgau website. It occurs to me that this could be phrased as an Xgau Sez question:

Q: I had a simple question. I read robertchristgau.com a lot, great site, but I also. would love to know how it's made. What I mean is, I'm a writer and would love to have a site that displays my work just like that. Simple but easy to access and find everything. If it is easy to explain, what do you use - blogger, wordpress ?? - to put this site together?

The site was built in 2001, right after the World Trade Center fell. It was, and still is, hand-coded in PHP, which is a scripting language run on Linux-based Apache web servers. The articles are just flat hand-coded HTML files with PHP markup that calls functions to uniformly format the pages, using CSS for style. PHP provides an interface to a MySQL database, which we use to store the Consumer Guide data and additional indexing. The original website used a search tool, ht://Dig, but it hasn't been maintained since 2004, so I eventually replaced it with a form that does a Google site search. Aside from Google, all of this is open source software. The code has been updated only as necessary, and we still don't use cookies or JavaScript or (more regrettably) UTF-8 (all of which I knew about at the time, but didn't feel the need to use).

The basic design is unchanged. Early on, we made a decision to use minimal graphics, no sound, and allow for no advertising. At the time, I was very conscious of performance limits, and wanted to keep the website affordable. And I've always hated advertising, and didn't want the hassle. Another way I simplified the work was that I kept a local copy of the website, and only occasionally updated the public copy. That meant that only I could work on the website, and I took advantage of that to put up everything I could get my hands on: I started with a copy of Christgau's computer files, and retyped clippings I had stashed away, including some 1969 files I found in our old attic, while a few others submitted their own scans, and I added new writing as it appeared (and eventually the news feed and the Q&A section). I hoped this might be a model for other critics, but I didn't get much response in 2003 when I floated the idea of building a website system for other rock critics. I shelved my early redesign plans, largely gave up on software development, shifted in to a minimal maintenance mode, and focused more on my own writing.

It's not hard to build a website like this, provided you can navigate through the jargon I listed above and its reams of technical documentation. But unless you have special programming needs (like the CG database), it's easier to use (and perhaps more importantly to maintain) a modern content management system. There wasn't much to choose from in 2001, but I've used several for minor projects later on, including WordPress, which is open source, popular, good enough for most purposes, and has some nice features I'm missing (and can't easily implement) in my hand-coded websites. You can find fairly cheap hosting -- I'd stay away from WordPress.com's "free" service -- and lots of help online. On the other hand, it might not be a lot of work to separate out the key code blocks from the website and turn them into something reusable. I'd be game to talk about that project.

Notes:

  • Blogger was founded in 1999 as a service, and acquired by Google in 2003. Their software seems to be proprietary.
  • WordPress is an open source CMS (content management system), written in PHP, and initially released in 2003. It is reportedly "used by 22.5% of the top one million websites as of December 2024." The service site based on it, WordPress.com, wasn't launched until later, in 2005.
  • PHP (acronym for Personal Home Page, or later for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is an open source, server-side scripting language for generating web pages. It was created by Rasmus Lerdorf and released in 1995. PHP 4.0 was current in from May 2000, with 4.1 introduced in December 2001. The current release is 8.4.
  • MySQL is an open source relational database management sytem (RDBMS), originally written by Michael Widenius and first released in 1995. SQL stands for Structured Query Language, which has been commonly used with RDBMS since 1973. MySQL was one of two popular open source RDBMS programs available by 2000. The other was PostgreSQL, which at the time had more advanced features (like triggers), but seemed like overkill for simple applications.

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Daily Log

Slept until 11. Woke up thinking about cooking. Read some about an Argentinian economist named Raúl Prebisch. This dovetails with work by Hans Singer discussed here. This article also mentions Dutch disease, which occurs when a bonanza in one sector -- the classic case was a new natural gas field -- renders other parts of the economy less competitive, ultimately hampering development (while increasing inequality, which adds to the problems). The page has a long list of examples: most recent, but the import of gold to Spain and Portugal in the 15th century is a pretty close fit. Not on the list but similar is how the increasingly dominant US finance sector lobbied to keep a strong dollar, which undermined the manufacturing sector, increased inequality, and tilted American politics hard to the right -- mostly by leading Democrats to strong neoliberal/globalist policies, which allowed Republicans even more room to tack to the far right.

Email up to 33 messages before I got around to it. I jotted down a couple upcoming albums. I should look at several Intercept articles for Loose Tabs.

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Daily Log

Got up early again, 8 something. Read about half of the Eric Williams chapter, which also touches on WEB Du Bois and CLR James. I probably should have gone back to bed, but lots of stuff weighing over me today. Main one is a 2:15 orthodondist appointment, to "retreat" a root canal that has been causing me discomfort for the better part of the year. I was surprised to find out that the dental insurance wouldn't help -- not that it's ever been much help -- and that the out-of-pocket cost will be over $1500. I managed to talk to my regular dentist yesterday, and he convinced me that the specialist would be more able to operate in this specific case. More evidence that capitalists won't be satisfied until they get it all. Of course, they won't be satisfied even then.

I spent nearly all of yesterday writing out 11 bullet points in a capsule history of US politics leading up to the "revolutionary moment" that brought us to Trump and Sanders. I see them as tapping into a common discontent fermenting against a center which can barely cope with the contradictions of capitalism. I've neglected the question of whether Sanders can be blamed for Trump. It's kind of like blaming light for dark, truth for lies. That the "centrists" could blame the former as wanting something unrealistic is one of the great conceptual follies of our time. It occurs to me that I could add another section on that. Piece is pretty long as it is, but I need to re-read it today before posting. That's part of the reason for staying up.

It will be hard to stay awake all day. Laura wanted to start watching a mini-series last night, Prime Target, about a math prodigy researching prime numbers. We watched the first two episodes up to 11:30-1AM last night, and I struggled to stay awake. The "thriller" bit only kicked in at the end, which should make the rest more entertaining, albeit even less plausible. Oh, well. (Wikipedia quotes "website consensus": "(Goofy concept + likable ensemble) ÷ sludgy pacing = an attractive but mediocre globetrotting series.") I still had Music Week to post after that, but didn't need to write any more. It's up now, but no feedback. Replaying Amaarae this morning, and will bump the grade up, but still don't have much to say. I'm pretty useless as a reviewer these days.

Email (27 messages): all deleted excepf for one download delayed. No Consumer Guide yet, but it appeared shortly after 11. Not much there I've heard: Haim (A, my grade is A-), Amaarae (*, elevated this morning to A-), S.G. Goodman (A-, **). Starting with Mahotella Queens, which is pretty surefire, although I'm unlikely to stream it more than the A- takes.

5:20 PM: Back from dentist trip. They called to move the appointment up, so we started at 12:45. Probably took close to 2 hours. Dentist thought it went well, but warned that retreatments are usually more painful than initial root canals. But he thought it went well, and should heal up over the next few weeks. I'm left with a hole in the crown, and a temporary filling, which I'll need replaced in 2-4 weeks. He didn't think the crown had to be replaced, but noted that it showed signs of age. I picked up antibiotics and pain pills on the way home, and got flu and covid shots. I also picked up my new glasses at WalMart. With Medicare picking up a bit on one pair, and reusing old frames for the other, they came to just under $400. I did some more shopping there, for the first time in years. Lot of stuff there, some cheaper than I'm used to.

I bought two plastic storage units: a small 3-drawer, and a larger 4-drawer (2 deep, 2 shallow). I have a lot of stuff like that: probably more than I actually need, but I figured a couple new empty units could help me move stuff around to get it better sorted. I didn't do much that evening. Laura wanted to watch a movie, so I joined her for a Ken Loach film on Ireland, The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006). I had only the vaguest sense of Irish history from 1919-23, especial of the Civil War phase that this film turns on. That's probably because I've never had much interest in or sympathy for the Irish nationalist cause -- not that I have any doubt as to the cruel nature of British rule, there or anywhere else, but I've never believed in nationalism, and I probably harbor deep-seated reservations about the dogmatism of catholicism. Still, I wonder here whether the Britain's terms for independence, in Ireland as well as later in India and Palestine, weren't designed to leave the nations they departed in disarray and civil war: acts of gleeful spite meant to save face for their former rule.

Tuesday, September 09, 2025

Music Week

Expanded blog post, September archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 38 albums, 10 A-list

Music: Current count 44818 [44780] rated (+38), 21 [22] unrated (-1).


New records reviewed this week:

  • Baths: Gut (2025, Basement's Basement): [sp]: B
  • Marilina Bertoldi: Para Quien Trabajas Vol. 1 (2025, Sony Music Argentina): [sp]: B+(**)
  • The Beths: Straight Line Was a Lie (2025, Anti-): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Sabrina Carpenter: Man's Best Friend (2025, Island): [sp]: A-
  • Chicago Jazz Orchestra: More Amor: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery (2024 [2025], Chicago Jazz Orchestra): [sp]: B+(*)
  • Chicago Underground Duo: Hyperglyph (2024 [2025], International Anthem): [sp]: B+(***)
  • CMAT: Euro-Country (2025, CMATBaby/AWAL): [sp]: A-
  • George Coleman: George Coleman With Strings (2022 [2025], Savant): [sp]: A-
  • Hannah Delynn: Trust Fall (2025, self-released): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Dijon: Baby (2025, R&R/Warner): [sp]: B+(*)
  • Fieldwork: Thereupon (2024 [2025], Pi): [cd]: A-
  • Folk Bitch Trio: Now Would Be a Good Time (2025, Jagjaguwar): [sp]: B
  • Ghostface Killah: Supreme Clientele 2 (2025, Mass Appeal): [sp]: B(*)
  • GoGo Penguin: Necessary Fictions (2025, XXIM): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Omer Govreen Quartet: All Things Equal (2024 [2025], J.M.I.): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Haim: I Quit (2025, Columbia): [sp]: A-
  • Ill Considered: Balm (2025, New Soil): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Ill Considered: Live at Eye Film Museum (2024, New Soil): [bc]: B+(**)
  • Ill Considered & Rob Lewis: Emergence (2024, New Soil): [bc]: B+(**)
  • Ill Considered: UnEvensong (2024, New Soil): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Larry Keel/Jon Stickley: Larry Keel & Jon Stickley (2025, self-released, EP): [cd]: B
  • KRS-One: Temple of Hip Hop Global Awareness (2025, R.A.M.P. Ent Agency): [sp]: A-
  • Laufey: A Matter of Time (2025, AWAL): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Billy Lester Trio: High Standards (2017 [2025], Ultra Sound): [cd]: B+(**) [09-12]
  • Christian McBride Big Band: Without Further Ado, Vol. 1 (2025, Mack Avenue): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Ashley Monroe: Tennessee Lightning (2025, Mountainrose Sparrow): [sp]: B+(*)
  • Ned Rothenberg: Looms & Legends (2024-25 [2025], Pyroclastic): [cd]: A-
  • Superchunk: Songs in the Key of Yikes (2025, Merge): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Sunny Sweeney: Rhinestone Requiem (2025, Aunt Daddy): [sp]: A-
  • Teyana Taylor: Escape Room (2025, Taylormade/Def Jam): [sp]: B

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

  • Larry Stabbins/Keith Tippett/Louis Moholo-Moholo: Live in Foggia (1985 [2025], Ogun): [sp]: A-

Old music:

  • Hannah Delynn: The Naked Room Demos (2021, self-released, EP): [bc]: B
  • Hannah Delynn: Making Friends (2023, self-released, EP): [bc]: B
  • Evan Parker/Ned Rothenberg: The Monkey Puzzle (1997, Leo): [bc]: B+(***)
  • Ned Rothenberg Double Band: Overlays (1991, Moers): [bc]: B+(***)
  • Ned Rothenberg: The Crux: Selected Solo Wind Works (1989-1992) (1989-92 [1993], Leo): [bc]: A-
  • Ned Rothenberg Double Band: Parting (1996 [2004], Moers Music): [bc]: B+(*)
  • Ned Rothenberg: Ghost Stories (1999-2000 [2000], Tzadik): [sp]: B+
  • Ned Rothenberg Sync: Harbinger (2001-03 [2004], Animul): [bc]: B+(***)
  • Ned Rothenberg/Satoh Masahiko: Decisive Action (2003-04 [2004], BAJ): [bc]: B+(**)


Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Mike Clark: Itai Doshin (Wide Hive) [10-03]
  • Orhan Demir/Neil Swainson: Wicked Demon (Hittite) [07-14]
  • Wadada Leo Smith/Sylvie Courvoisier: Angel Falls (Intakt) [10-03]
  • Mark Turner: Reflections On: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Giant Step Arts) [10-10]

Daily Log

Got up at 9, sleep score 90, everything else worse than usual, especially leaks. Rained all day Monday, accumulating 1.57 inches, almost surely an understatement. I spent all day working on a Substack post, giving up in the middle of a bullet list that started with revolutions and will presumably end with why Trump got away with his but Sanders (and Mamdani) cannot. So lots of thoughts rattling around. Read about an Indian economist, J.C. Kumarappa (1892-1960), who was close to Gandhi.

I didn't touch Music Week yesterday, but should post it later today. Initial count was thin, but after acing Sabrina Carpenter (big Dan Weiss huzzah) I have a bounty of A-list, and I'm probably close to 30 rated. Got the news that my dental insurance is done with me for 2025, so I'll have to pay up over $1500 to fix my old 1980s root canal. Schedule is for Wednesday, so that's sure to shoot a hole in the middle of my week. Eyes especially bad this morning, so I keep having to use the magnifying glass to read the screen. Should get the new glasses this week.

Email (30 messages): noted some upcoming records, Nick Turse articles I should add to Loose Tabs, Rachel Booth articles that might be interesting but probably say things I don't want to hear. Not in the mood for that today. Replayed Sabrina Carpenter today, and watched a couple of her videos, which I don't like much. Music is still good. Dan Weiss panned my endorsement of Sumac & Moor Mother: stick your neck out and get it chopped off. I've panned his Sumac picks in the past.

Monday, September 08, 2025

Daily Log

Got up shortly after 10, so barely cleared the 6 hours mark, for a 100% sleep rating. Read about half of the Joan Robinson chapter. Found considerable support for my ideas about using the state for directed capital distribution -- although I would do it somewhat differently, in that I'm still as wary of concentrations of power as I am of concentrations of money. Weighed in at 197, so the bulge of a couple weeks ago (when I hit 202) seems to have receded. Still above my low point (194?), but under control -- not that I couldn't do with losing a bit more.

Email (14 messages): Allen Lowe rant (with correction). Also have a Brad Luen from last night, with a "countrypop" section.

Sunday, September 07, 2025

Daily Log

Slept 95%. Looks like I turned the machine off one minute short of six hours, which would probably have moved me to 100%. AHI was 0.0, and P95 was 9.0. Read about Sweezy and Kalecki. Minimal email (9 messages). Spent most of yesterday on the new computer. I set up the old computer, and got ftp working one way. I archived and copied Laura's old home directory, which was almost all private program data (mostly Firefox and Thunderbird). One approach to importing the previous settings is to simply copy the old trees to the appropriate spot on the new machine. But for Firefox, I tried setting up sync, which worked reasonably well. I haven't done Thunderbird yet, but did create an export file, so I can try importing it today. One problem is that the old machine wasn't connecting to Yahoo right, so that will take some debugging.

Meanwhile, my own work is languishing

Saturday, September 06, 2025

Daily Log

Woke up once in the middle of the night, then again shortly after 10. Read the rest of the Polanyi chapter, and stayed up. Next chapter is on Sweezy, so looking forward to that. I read some of Monopoly Capital 50+ years ago, and was quite impressed, but no telling how much stuck with me. One point I do recall was his speculation that the work week could be greatly shortened if we only did work on necessities. Only much later did I discover Keynes (and Gorz and Frase) writing along those lines. Of course, it didn't happen, as innovations created more necessities, and as services turned out to be an insatiable pit of desire. I've only recently changed my views on this, in part because "leisure" has turned into as much of a hell hole as "work" used to be, but mostly because good works give our lives meaning and purpose. The quest is not so much to free us from work as to free our work from the evils of capitalism.

Email (6 messages): a reply from Jan to my suggestion that she should store her prized cooking equipment with her kids, so she can still do some cooking (mostly baking) when she visits, which she should do more often than is probably the case. I wrote her back, with a photo of Uncle Clagge's pans. I also sent out a photo of Laura's new computer.

Friday, September 05, 2025

Daily Log

Woke up around 8, but went back to sleep, and slept to noon: 503 minutes, low AHI and leak, low pressures. Rained earlier, and was still 55F when I got up. Read about Polanyi, Red and White Hungary, Red Vienna, Fascist Austria, up to his move to London. Woke from a dream where I had made a nice chicken main dish, but evidently nothing else, so I was rumaging to try to fill out a dinner menu while guests were waiting. I found frozen shrimp I could sautee, dried pasta (for a gorgonzola sauce, or a puttanesca), romaine (could make a Burmese tea leaf salad), only vegetable I could think of was stir-fried lima beans. Now that I'm awake, I can think of more options. The dream mostly consisted of searching through drawers and bins. Friday is peak email day (47 messages):

  • Vox's highlight article is "Why are single men so miserable?" Sounds like me . . . fifty years ago. Now I'm what? Used to it?

Thursday, September 04, 2025

Daily Log

Got up before 9, sleep score 85, but was thinking too hard to even consider going back to sleep. Yesterday's total wipe out may have left me wanting to work. Still, tired as I'm writing this, and bewildered by all the things left to do. Yesterday's hail has literally carpeted the back yard, much of the front, and any flat surfaces (carport, flat roof above the den) with small branches and leaf clusters. I haven't gone out yet to fully assess the damage, but it is considerable.

Email (24 messages):

  • Notice that my Corsair support ticket has closed, as I haven't responded in a week (but they're allowing another week in case I wish to reopen it). As the computer build is essentially done, I should hook it up today and install Xubuntu. Then I can reply with good news (or bad).
  • Mail from Cadence features pictures of old issues. I still have a box of old issues, which should be of some value to someone somewhere, but not much to me anymore. I've long wished they would put their back issues up on the web, where they would be a valuable resource, but the response has always been, "how can we make money from that"? Since then Bob Rusch has died, leaving Slim in charge (and she's a jazz poll voter), so maybe I should approach her?
  • New Rodrigo Amado Bridge album coming in October.
  • Notice from Vox that I can share up to 10 gift links per month.

Wednesday, September 03, 2025

Daily Log

Woke up abruptly at 10:15, realizing I have an 11:45 appointment out west (Wichita Endodontics) to evaluate teeth 18-19, which have been a source of persistent, low-grade pain since I had a root canal and crown in February. I was preoccupied with eye surgery at the time, but complained on my next cleaning, and Dr. Tsao wrote up the referral as one of several ways of dealing with the problem. I did a round of antibiotics, which had no effect. I finally followed up yesterday, and got the appointment today.

So my morning wake up ritual is very compressed today. I read a bit about Kondratiev, the Russian Revolution, and the NEP. Ate breakfast. Found a playlist on Spotify for Tougher Than Tough (original box set not available), and kicked it off, figuring that my phone will pick it up and continue playing in the car. Not the degree of control over music control I want in the car, but should beat silence (let alone radio). After the appointment, my plan is to go to WalMart and see if I can get new glasses. They seem to have the sunglass clip-on frame I wanted, and otherwise to be cheap enough. Then I'll probably hit a grocery store.

Email (23 messages):

  • Substack stats: 61 free subscribers (+33 for August); 223 post reads (+205); subscribers come: Substack App: 48%; [www.]tomhull.com: 27%; Facebook: 6%.


I didn't get back home until after 6. Orthodontist thought the root canal/crown looked fine, but detected a problem in the tooth next to it, where I had a root canal back in the 1980s. He saw a dark spot at the base of one of the three roots. The tapering of the root canals was very uneven, and one had a large metal post, which he felt couldn't be removed without cracking the tooth, and didn't need to as that base looked to be in good shape. So what he proposed was drilling through the crown, refinishing the other two roots, and filling in the holes. We scheduled that for next Wednesday. It sounded like it's not certain to work, but it makes sense that it could help.

Trip out there was rather unpleasant. I had to maneuver around some repaving on our block. I couldn't get any music to play, although my phone did connect through bluetooth, and music sources displayed the next song in my Spotify playlist. I did get the GPS maps, and asked for the destination to be set to the orthodontist's office. It did that, but I didn't believe the left turn off 21st until I saw it -- I was expecting somewhere further out west. After the appointment, I took a bit more time to get Spotify working, and eventually managed. I felt like lunch, so drove over to McAllister's, which was close to my Walmart destination.

I saw an AT&T store in the same strip mall, so went in to ask them about the car internet connection -- a short free trial came with the car, and is scheduled to expire tomorrow. I've gotten a bunch of email from AT&T about this, but none that explained why I might actually want their service. The guys in the store were helpful only in the sense that they were pretty sure I should just let it lapse and be done with it. Even if I wanted it, they couldn't sign me up unless I already had an AT&T account (and there was some doubt even then). I thought there was a T-Mobile in the area, so I might go over there and try talking to someone. (T-Mobile has a similar service, but little if any information about it online.) Turned out it was a Cox store, so I didn't bother.

I did stop in at Lowe's, and spent considerable time looking around for various things: a broom and dustpan for the garage; some granite surface cleaner; a couple motion-sensor nite lites; a bracket I could use to repair a gap in a fence; another (smaller) component box; some 2-inch angle brackets; some 6-foot stick lumber: 1x3 (2), 1x2 (4). I've been using the smaller sizes quite a bit recently, so felt it would be good to have some surplus on hand. When I got back, I unloaded into the garage, but figured I wouldn't have time to work on much, so closed up. Good thing, as a pretty severe thunderstorm hit an hour or so later We got 0.57-inch rain, and some pretty serious hail, which knocked a lot of leaves down -- I'll have to look for further damage tomorrow.

After Lowe's, I went to Walmart, and ordered two pair of glasses. For distance, I wanted to get a frame with a magnetic clip on to double as sunglasses. I found an Easy Clip frame for $124 that seemed ok, and they wanted $185 for the lenses (standard progressive with anti-glare). For computer, I didn't find a frame I liked better than some of my old ones, so I gave them the old glasses agreed to a $20 service charge. Should come out to $514 plus taxes, minus whatever insurance pays (not much, I gather). That's less than half the price I was looking at with the optometrist's side-business, but a bit more than I was finding for mail order. Should be ready in a week. That's a fairly large item to scratch off my checklist. (As is the dental issue, but that too will take another week to play out.)

Afterwards, I got no real listening or writing done. I did take a look at the bathroom sink cabinet. I pulled everything out a few days ago, a side-effect of trying to clean the floor (which had a half-dozen items one would normally stash under the sink, but there was no room). I need to replace the sink drain pipe, which is badly corroded -- and after I finished sweeping out the cabinet, I had knocked enough gunk off the pipes to open up a small leak. I'm torn between fixing it myself and hiring a plumber: should be pretty easy, but I suspect that when I take a pipe wrench to the fittings, the whole thing is going to crumble. I've been saving the job up to add on to whatever else I need a plumber for next. (One candidate is fixing the basement floor drain. Another is rerouting the water inputs to a new basement sink/cabinet. I basically understand how to do both of those projects, but they involve special equipment as well as expertise. I really should get that floor drain taken care of, as the other basement projects depend on it.)

Meanwhile, I started looking for some kind of organizer for the bathroom cabinet. I didn't find anything usable at Lowe's, but Amazon has a dozen or more options for two-tier slide-out units that can easily fit inside a 30-inch cabinet. (The two door openings are 12w x 17h, with about 21d back to the wall, but more like 16d to the shutoff valves. Most of the units are 7-8w and 11-5d, usually about 12h but taller items would rise above the unit. I eventually decided to splurge a bit with this Toyear unit (black metal, wide bottom basket, narrower top basket, $36 for 2).

I also looked for something I could attach to the doors, but found very little of interest. I may try making something, once I get an idea of how much depth I have left after installing the interior units.

Tuesday, September 02, 2025

Daily Log

Didn't get to bed until after 4, but slept well enough. Rained quite hard yesterday afternoon, 0.70 inches on gauge, which knocked some more branches down in front. I packed the bigger ones into the trash. Still unseasonably cool: 65F, overcast. Nothing much I have to do today, so the smart thing would be to wrap up last week's big projects: computer, upstairs light, carport pads, wood pile final sort, maybe even start building the kiosk. Alternate would be to write a NOEL post on "More Thoughts About Sanders and Capitalism." Or just piddle away with Loose Tabs. Morning music is the new Fieldwork album.

Email: 23 messages: nothing special.

Monday, September 01, 2025

Music Week

Expanded blog post, September archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 35 albums, 8 A-list

Music: Current count 44780 [44745] rated (+35), 22 [24] unrated (-2).


New records reviewed this week:

  • Gino Amato: Latin Crossroads 2 (2025, Ovation): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Oren Ambarchi & Eric Thielemans: Kind Regards (2023 [2025], AD 93): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Oren Ambarchi/Johan Berthling/Andreas Werlin: Ghosted III (2024 [2025], Drag City): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Apollo Brown & Bronze Nazareth: Funeral for a Dream (2025, Escapism): [sp]: A-
  • Rodney Crowell: Airline Highway (2025, New West): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Jesse Daniel: Son of the San Lorenzo (2025, Lightning Rod): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Matt Daniel: The Poet (2025, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Joe Ely: Love & Freedom (2025, Rack 'Em): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Colin Hancock's Jazz Hounds Featuring Catherine Russell: Cat & the Hounds (2024 [2025], Turtle Bay): [cd]: A-
  • The Hives: The Hives Forever Forever the Hives (2025, PIAS): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Cody Jinks: In My Blood (2025, Late August): [sp]: B+(*)
  • Olivia Ellen Lloyd: Do It Myself (2025, self-released): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Tony Logue: Dark Horse (2025, Jenny Ridge Productions): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Roberto Magris: Lovely Day(s) (2024 [2025], JMood): [cd]: B+(***)
  • Juliet McConkey: Southern Front (2025, Soggy Anvil): [sp]: B+(*)
  • Brad Mehldau: Ride Into the Sun (2025, Nonesuch): [sp]: B
  • Nerves Baddington: Driving Off Cliffs (2025, Apt. B Productions): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Cam Pierce: A Thousand Lonely Horses (2025, self-released): [os]: A-
  • Ken Pomeroy: Cruel Joke (2025, Rounder): [sp]:
  • Queen Herawin: Awaken the Sleeping Giant (2025, Matic): [sp]: A-
  • Ravita Jazz: Alice Blue (2025, Ravita Music): [cd]: B
  • Steve Rosenbloom Big Band: San Francisco 1948 (2024 [2025], Glory): [cd]: C
  • Gonzalo Rubalcaba/Chris Potter/Eric Harland/Larry Grenadier: First Meeting: Live at Dizzy's Club (2022 [2025], 5Passion): [cd]: B+(***)
  • Jaleel Shaw: Painter of the Invisible (2022 [2025], Changu): [cd]: A-
  • Sam Stoane: Tales of the Dark West (2025, Cloverdale): [sp]: A-
  • Turnpike Troubadours: The Price of Admission (2025, Bossier City): [sp]: B+(*)
  • Molly Tuttle: So Long Little Miss Sunshine (2025, Nonesuch): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Vega7 the Ronin/Machacha: The Ghost Orchid (2025, Copenhagen Crates): [sp]: B+(***)
  • Hayley Williams: Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party (2025, Post Atlantic): [sp]: B+(**)
  • Miguel Zenón Quartet: Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (2024 [2025], Miel Music): [cd]: A

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

  • John Lee Hooker: The Standard School Broadcast Recordings (1973 [2025], BMG): [sp]: A
  • Steve Tintweiss and the Purple Why: Live in Tompkins Square Park 1967 (1967 [2025], Inky Dot Media): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Zulu Guitar Blues: Cowboys, Troubadours and Jilted Lovers 1950-1965 (1950-65 [2025], Matsuli Music): [sp]: B+(**)

Old music:

  • Brad Mehldau: Après Fauré (2023 [2024], Nonesuch): [sp]: B
  • Brad Mehldau: After Bach II (2017-23 [2024], Nonesuch): [sp]: B
  • Brad Mehldau/Ian Bostridge: The Folly of Desire (2022 [2023], Nonesuch): [sp]: B-
  • Perico Sambeat: Ademuz (1995 [1998], Fresh Sound New Talent): [sp]: B+(**)


Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Armen Donelian: Stargazer (Sunnyside) [10-03]
  • Phil Haynes & Free Country: Liberty Now! (Corner Store Jazz) [10-17]
  • Rubén Reinaldo: Fusión Olivica (Free Code Jazz) [06-04]
  • Jovino Santos Neto Quartet: Mais Que Tudo: Live at Kerry Hall 1995 (Origin) [09-19]
  • Craig Taborn/Nels Cline/Marcus Gilmore: Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) [09-26]
  • Milan Verbist Trio: Time Change (Origin) [09-19]

Daily Log

Well, August is done. I suppose I should count surviving it as some kind of accomplishment, but I have little more to show for the month, or for that matter for all of summer. I'll probably write about that in Music Week later today, so I should skip that for now. I did get a reasonable night's sleep, until 11:10 AM, 411 minutes, using the large mask, AHI down to 1.0, average pressure 8.5, high pressure 12.0. Got up and read about John Hobson, the paradox of thrift, and the economic folly of imperialism. He also appears to have been one of the first to discover what was later dubbed the military-industrial complex. There is a line about when a nation reaches a certain level of "development, inequality, and rent-seeking." We've been there for a long time, but it does seem to have continued getting worse.

Mail: 11 messages, but nothing much. Brad Luen's "Odds & Ends 148" suggests some listening.

Sunday, August 31, 2025

Daily Log

Woke up a couple times, and stayed up after 9. Used the large mask. AHI down to 2.8. Overcast, barely 70F. Read more of the Veblen chapter, which expounds on the notion that "captains of industry" are essentially social and economic parasites, feeding off the work of others, and flaunting their rewards through a conspicuous show of their wealth. Plus ça change, . . . Of course, he was attacked by an economist who argued that the wealth accrued to capital was exactly commensurate to the value of the efforts of the rich. Plus c'est le même chose.

Email: 4 messages, nothing important, although I got a reminder from Corsair that my ticket is still open. I should finish assembling the computer today. Yesterday all I managed was to move the case back to the table and route (but not plug in) a couple box cables. I didn't plug them in because I couldn't see them clearly. Bad lighting and bad eyes have plagued this project. In the past, I build these things on the dining room table, which had much better light. There is actually very little left to do: plug the box wires in; install the radiator and CPU pump, and plug its wires in (still not sure where, but looks like there are many options that may be equivalent); install the power supply, and run the power cables to the motherboard. No graphics card, as the CPU has built-in graphics. No SATA drives, as I have a 1TB SSD on the motherboard. So nearly all of the modular power wires will go into storage. I still need to download Xubuntu to a thumb drive. I can use a KVM switch to share keyboard/video/mouse with the old machine, until the data is copied and the latter retired.

Saturday, August 30, 2025

Daily Log

Another bad night sleeping. Woke up before 8. AHI was over 5, so I switched to the medium mask. Went back to sleep for a couple hours. Woke up when machine suddenly shut off. AHI had dropped back under 5 (4.6), but leak was high (3.0). I finished reading the Cassidy chapter on Henry George, moving on to Veblen.

Did snap updates. Both Thunderbird and Firefox are now offering me a new widget to "add an AI chatbot to the Firefox sidebar to quickly summarize pages." Email: 3 messages, nothing of note. Ordered a tube of black caulk for the carport. I went with the cheaper "siliconized acrylic" ($9) vs. "pure silocone" ($14).

I got the new LED bulbs for the upstairs ceiling fan, but will wait until I get the new J11 socket before I make another stab at repairing the thing. I still worry that the source of the problem is some conflict between external and internal dimming technology. Dimmable LEDs need new dimmers. (Old dimmers chop off the leading edge of the AC pulse, effectively reducing the voltage. This causes LEDs to flicker noticeably, so LED dimmers either chop off the trailing-edge or use pulse-width modulation: both cause flicker, but it's much less obvious.) The fan motor is on a simple switch, so we use the remote to control fan speed. The light, however, is on a dimmer switch (with a second remote control, at the bottom of the stairs, which replaced the old three-way switch). The remote is set to 100%, hoping that will simply pass the dimmed current through to the bulb, but if it goes through more complicated circuitry, who knows what might happen? We have the same ceiling fan downstairs, attached to a single simple switch, which is always on, so we use the remote to control both fan and lights. We've never had a problem with that unit. I don't even recall having to replace the halogen lamp.

If I can't do the repair, the next step will be to replace the fan, either with a new LED-lit fan or a simple light fixture. The key thing here is that I have to consider the whole circuit, and not just the fan unit. I saw some units I like, especially some more compact ones with the fan recessed into a round border which provides the lighting. We don't have a lot of ceiling space in the hall, and it is rather narrow. I also looked a bit at light fixtures with motion sensors, of which there are many. I think the ideal would be a motion-triggered night light that could be manually switched to bright. It might make sense to use one or more discrete night lights in combination with the central light/fan.

I ordered a bunch of books:

  • Ross Barkan: Fascism or Genocide: How a Decade of Political Disorder Broke American Politics
  • Benjamin Balthasar: Citizens of the Whole World: Anti-Zionism and the Cultures of the American Jewish Left
  • John Ganz: When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s
  • David A Graham: The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America

Friday, August 29, 2025

Daily Log

Woke up early, before 9, to sounds of heavy machinery outside. Looks like they're tearing up pavement from the intersection of Faulkner and Stackman. Our block is cut off, so to get out of here we'll have to drive north. I read about Henry George. Tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. Too many thoughts, especially about the Sanders "more thoughts" piece. Both Sanders and Trump tapped into a growing desire for revolution, but their approaches were different. That's because Trump started with a readymade movement, while Sanders had to build one. Trump simply assumed leadership of the right-wing political juggernaut that had been built by the donor networks of the 1980s and sold (in sensationalized form) by Fox News. Trump's value added:

  1. He dialed back, but didn't reject, the focus on libertarian oligarchy and militarism. That donors could accept this, because they knew that Trump was one of their own, and his personal greed would keep him in line. But it allowed him to blame and attack Democrats for war and avarice, which moved voters to his side.
  2. He developed an uncanny knack for telling lies that were made credible by his opponents' sanctimonious hypocrisy. He intuitively understood how media had warped as America had broken bad, and how to exploit it.
  3. He gave them a brand name, with all the merchandising bells and whistles. Every fascist movement needs its Duce.

Sanders understood the economic and cultural ferment that demanded change, and was uniquely able to tap into the emotional charge, he sought to harness it behind a rational program for popular change, in opposition to all institutional powers. If, say, the Democratic Party really was just a front for some nefarious globalist-leftist conspiracy, they would have moved to exploit Sanders' popularity, much as the closeted Republican powers did with Trump. But no such thing exists, or is even possible. So Sanders had to rally the base against the party elites, who fought him every step of the way -- to the point that they would almost certainly have sabotaged him even had he won the Party nomination against Trump.

Enough digression. Another thought I had was that I should have ordered the J11 socket to go with the bulb I ordered the other day. I did so this morning. Light remains totally unreliable, sometimes coming on, more often shutting down. I did manage to get a nice chunk of work done in the garage yesterday. That leaves me with one more piece to assemble and install to complete the top wood rack. Unless it rains, I should get that done today, which will let me put the rest of the wood away.

Email: 33 messages:

  • Eric Levitz piece on "What far-left cranks get right about the housing crisis." Links here (different title). Unclear who the cranks are, what they are saying, or why they are right. Tab open now.

Thursday, August 28, 2025

Daily Log

Slept reasonably well using the large mask. AHI back down to 2.5. Rained off and on yesterday. Cool and overcast today. I tried to fix the upstairs hall ceiling fan light yesterday. An electrician had replaced the original socket with one that is looking pretty dubious. Two wires from the fixture were connected to the socket leads with wire nuts, but the plastic had fallen off, leaving just the metal cones. Why that would cause the circuit to break isn't clear, but the obvious fix was to replace the wire nuts. The wires themselves were braided, with short exposed leads, so hard to properly twist together, but I seemed to get a firm connection. When I turned the power on, I got light for a moment, then it went out. I thought about replacing the bulb, but my replacement didn't fit. When I put the previous bulb back in, it came on, and seemed to be ok. But it went out again last night. Then came back on this morning. One theory is that the halogen bulbs are too hot. I had an LED bulb at one point, but it too went out, so I replaced it with the current halogen bulb. Whole thing is screwy. I may just have to hire another electrician to make sure the dimmer (with remote for the bottom of the stairs) and the light fixture are all compatible. Maybe even get rid of the ceiling fan and replace it with a simple light fixture, since that's the only bit that really matters.

After a lot of searching around, I ordered an E11 7W (75W equiv) LED bulb. I think that's the right base. Delivery tomorrow. Amazon also had an E11 socket, so if I still have trouble, I may replace the socket next. It looks right. Still, I wonder whether the dimmer circuitry in the ceiling fan light conflicts with the external dimmer, given that dimming works differently with LED bulbs. We keep the ceiling fan set to 100% light, and only use the wall dimmer, but the whole system seems unstable.

Didn't get to mail until mid-afternoon, at which point 32 messages:

  • Finally got a good answer back from Corsair regarding AIO pump placement and connections. Will know once I start plugging things in.

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Daily Log

Bad night sleeping. Got up 4:45. Tried going back to sleep, but couldn't. Got up and read. Turned the AC on. Switched CPAP mask from medium to large. Eventually slept until near-noon. While the large mask seemed to work better, I was surprised to see the AHI up to 4.8. I'm trying to figure out whether to order medium or large masks, so I should keep experimenting. 64F at noon. Overcast, but not raining. Hips are hurting. Morning music: Lefty Frizell. I should work on garage today, but have to wait until Laura gets up to see what we're doing today. Meanwhile, 20 email:

  • Letter from Frank Balla asking about website updates. Evidently he reads the notebook.


   Mar 2001